Improvements to Sinclair Road coming

According to an update from the Cadboro Bay Residents Association (CBRA), Saanich expects to start planning and design work in 2020 with the work taking place over a time frame of two to four years after staff had identified Sinclair Road as a short term priority for walking and cycling improvements. The work will also see improvements to the pavement of Sinclair Road.

It is one of two main roads into Cadboro Bay and area residents have long raised concerns about its narrowness, paving and lack of sidewalks. The local cycling has also raised concerns about its safety.

This development comes after Saanich council had approved plans by the University of Victoria to build new two residence buildings not far from Sinclair Road and after CBRA had raised concerns about the impact of the project. While it will increase the net supply of student beds by more than 600, CBRA chair Eric Dahli had expressed fears that construction of the new two residences will compound problems.

“We understand the need for the [university] to upgrade and expand on-site residence facilities for a growing student population,” he said earlier this month. But Dahli predicted that sped-up plans are going to “exacerbate” the “problematic interface” between the university and nearby Cadboro Bay Village by way of the “substandard, overburdened, and unsafe Sinclair Hill.”

But if improvements to Sinclair Road are coming, local residents will have to wait longer.

CBRA had asked whether the long long awaited improvements to Sinclair Road could coincide with the construction of the two buildings.

“We were advised by Saanich some months back that there will likely be heavy truck traffic and underground servicing required to support the construction of these buildings,” said Dahli in a note. “Therefore in Saanich’s view it would be ideal that the majority of this work happens in advance of improvements to Sinclair Road in order to avoid damage to a newly constructed roadway.”